At the turn of the 19th century the music world was changing from the late classic style into the early romantic period, said symphony Music Director Wes Kenney in a news release.

As Haydn was completing his brilliant career, Beethoven was just starting his world-changing one.

Haydn wrote his last 12 symphonies in London and was treated like a modern-day rock star, Kenney said. But while Haydn was producing his final work, Beethoven was just warming up.

“Beethoven’s ‘Symphony No. 1’ is a wolf in sheepskin,” Kenney said, “taking the 18th-century model and by sheer personality starting the transformation that would blossom into 19th-century Romanticism.”